Triq Birbal in Balzan is one of the 56km of main roads the government will have built over the past five years, including 17 kms of arterial roads built under the fifth Italian protocol, and some 13 kms of arterial roads co-financed by the European Union, Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett said yesterday.

He was speaking at Triq Birbal – which ironically is still all mud, unmade ditches and hardly usable for traffic, as it has been for several months – where he went to see the “progress” on the road. At the rate of “progress” being made, Triq Birbal may still be unfinished by the time of the impending general election.

These roads, the minister said, were another promise kept by the Nationalist Party in government.

Funds from the EU and Italy had helped the government finance more roads from local resources. Some e23.3 million (about Lm10 million) had gone to build or improve over 26 kms of main roads including at Tal-Qroqq, Burmarrad, Mtarfa, Mosta, Ta’ Qali, Gzira, Tarxien, Paola, Valletta, Blata l-Bajda and Gozo.

Triq Birbal was about 0.7 kms long and considered an important link in the centre of Malta, linking Attard, Lija and Balzan with Birkirkara, Mr Mugliett said. The work, costing about e350,000 had been divided in two phases, including replacing all services, such as water mains, telephone and cable television, and the installation of a drainage main.

The residential roads programme was also making headway, the minister said. Road works include those at Mqabba, Qrendi, Naxxar, Mgarr, Birzebbuga, Marsaxlokk, Marsascala, Birkirkara, Swieqi and St Julian’s, he said.

The Transport Authority last month also awarded another batch of period contracts for residential roads in Dingli, Mgarr, Rabat, Mellieha, Paola, Sta Lucija, St Paul’s Bay, Swieqi and Zebbug.

Triq Birbal, Mr Mugliett added, and the various arterial and distributary and residential roads built over the last five years were proof of the government’s commitment to improve the quality of life.